The Dish: Chicken Not So Little.

Sully fell for it. I ain’t never seen a scrawny chicken on any farm, in my whole life - unless they were sick. Were we all picking at bony little two pound birds when I was born? Hell no. Do you realize how little meat is on a two-pound bird? Look at history. Vintage cookbooks from the 19th century spec four pound and larger hens.

This is what I mean about today’s internet. Doesn’t matter who is curating, how popular or clever they are. Accept nothing at face value. That includes MY finds. I do my best ... and in spite of that, I still link some pretty stinkeroo stuff from time to time. One must question the premise, every damn time.

SciAm: Do Antidepressants Work?

Linkbait. From my understanding, SSRIs when combined with conventional talk therapy have proven very effective. To prescribe an SSRI without accompanying therapy, there is little benefit. To phrase it in my own language, the SSRIs put the brain into a more receptive state for change ... or that is the remnant of my admittedly ‘90’s knowledge of the subject. To test them in a virtual ‘test tube’ is worthless. IMHO. I’m not defending, I’m just pointing out discrepancies. The fact that family practitioners used to (and may still) hand out these things like Pez, just fills the coffers of the pharmaceutical companies.

The drug ain’t enough. You’ve gotta talk it out. [See the comment thread; I’m wrong.] And picking a suitable psychiatrist/psychologist/social worker is like trying to find a good suit. Takes time and money.

A warning: If any doctor is handing you books about anxiety and you’re starting to manifest every symptom in those books - you’re getting played, in a most cruel and inhuman way. I saw this happen with about a dozen people in NYC in the 90’s. It’s a racket. Get you on benzos and then let the half-life of the drug addict you both to the medication and the therapy. SSRIs are added to the mix. Next stop: Agoraphobia. It’s not pretty, and the climb out is long and torturous. It can be done, however. And a normal life can be restored.

Removed a post for the first time.

About how publishers should contemplate “director’s cuts”. I decided my comments and critiques were not phrased well, and offered too wide an opportunity for misinterpretation. My apologies. Sometimes it is indeed better to shut one’s cake-hole and listen a bit more.

Yahoo News: My personal John Edwards trial: How he fooled me, and what I learned.

You know, in talking with various women during the last couple of elections, I noticed that about half would admire John Edwards, and the other half would find him terribly, overtly smarmy. Men were ambivalent. I never noticed the smarminess until alerted to it, and then didn’t really believe in it. I figured such behavior would have been found out long before reaching national levels. Major kudos to those women who saw through the facade. I’ll state it here in boldface: I WAS WRONG.

SF New Mexican: Forestry officials brace for fire season.

It’s drier than at this time last year. I suspect they’ll close the forests in late May, so get out and hike while it’s still cold/cool … otherwise you’ll be left high and dry. Apparently I’m wrong. TV news tonight says the snowpack in the Sangres is a percentage higher than last year - so we’re actually better off, if marginally. My bad!

NY Times:

Pentagon Says It’s Confident Missile Hit Satellite Tank. Okay, so I was wrong yesterday. They’ve shown video. My sincere apologies to the Pentagon. I remain skeptical over the need for missile shootdown; I’m not buying the hydrazine fuel excuse. We’ve had two Shuttles disintegrate, countless other rockets explode in the atmosphere - all of which contained hydrazine - without a single similar concern. I’ll wager in years after we’ll hear about nuclear fuel, experimental armaments, or very classified equipment.

Related: Times Opinionator has a different take. The shootdown legitimizes missile defense in significant ways.

NY Times:

The Richest of the Rich, Proud of a New Gilded Age. Yet the old Gilded Age philanthropists did more. Carnegie built Carnegie Lake in Princeton (when built, it was lined on both shores with flowering cherry trees ... few survive, sadly). The Duponts built spectacular gardens. I see few such long-lasting aesthetic endeavors today. None seem to like to get their hands dirty, except with ink.

AOPA:

Mayor Daley bulldozes Chicago’s Meigs Field. You know Meigs. No, you do. Really. It’s the airport countless thousands have taken off from in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Damned if I’ll let them tear it up without a fight. Rise up, let the Mayor know he’s way, way over the line ...

Later: OK, laugh. I thought this rang a bell. This news article is so old ... years old. It came up in an online aggregator, and I linked immediately out of outrage, rather than sense.

My most bandwidth-stolen image ...

and to my chagrin, it’s not one that I’ve spent time crafting. More iconic in nature. The horse’s ass. Dave Barry’s used it on his weblog without permission or attribution, and at least a dozen others.